A Woman at Bay, etc

Front matter

" She fell, without a warning cry, headlong at the stranger's feet. [p. 24. A WOMAN AT BAY BY MARIE ZIMMERMANN AUTHOR OF "THE BANE OF BOTH" ETC ETC FROaVTISPIECE BY HAROLD COPPING Xon&on S. W. PARTRIDGE & CO 8 & 9 PATERNOSTER ROW CONTENTS CHAPTEB PAGE I Herself and Husband 5 II A Little World 16 III One too Many 25 IV War 35 V A Cut with Consequences .... 45 VI Sallie Waters 57 VII Ruffled Feathers 64 VIII Revelations 72 IX No Quarter 83 X A Crisis 92 XI The Darkest Hour 100 XII Face to Face 106 XIII A Night of Disaster 116 XIV An Old Shoe 124 XV Death and Danger 133 XVI Collapse 145 XVII A Nine Days' Wonder 150 XVIH "Considering". 161 XIX After Dinner 168 XX That Fateful Shoe. ..... 178 s CONTENTS 4 CHAPTER PAQE XXI An Emergency 185 XXII Philip P. Davis 191 XXIII Mr. Davis means Business. . . . 202 XXIV The "Other" 209 XXV Number Nine 21S XXVI The Meeting in the Meadow . . . 230 XXVII A Truce 241 XXVIII Vanquished, but Immutable . . . 251 XXIX A Surprise 259 XXX The Critical Moment 267 XXXI Gone! 279 XXXII That Question 292 XXXIII Changes 300 XXXIV That Meeting of the Morrow . . .

Chapter I Herself And Husband Ight

bravely, that being her way to do all things, Koxana got to the top of old Goliath, as the people of Shumleigh called the chief of the five hills which make this lovely south-eastern village such a popular resort, and there stood and made much of her little world, upon which the glorious April day lavished a hundred new charms. At this time Roxana was a beautiful and ample woman ; and her looks were such as we associate with noble Greek matrons, when they girded their husbands and sons for battle, and turned never a hair if their heroes were laid dead at their feet. Her eyes were deep and blue ; her skin, if pallid, was fine, and she had red hair — a dense and beautiful shade it was — which shone like satin and fell to her waist. " Rox, where are you, sweetheart ? " said a man's voice from below. a " Here, dear !

" answered Roxana, looking down upon her big husband, who was Squire of Shum leigh, stood six feet four in his stockings, had fourteen stone of lazy flesh to carry about, and but a limited stock of breath. " Pouf ! " said Squire Kynnesley, as he came panting to the hill-top, and made straightway for the wooden bench put there for the benefit of climbers. " Jolly day for the picnic ; eh, Rox ? " said he, stretching his long legs — he had the limbs of an athlete, and a child's big guileless blue eyes in his jovial face — and glancing towards a denser region in the open landscape, where firs of every sort and size congregated to make a mystic retreat and shadow on the hottest day. Thence they had a glimpse every now and then of women's airy raiment, heard laughter and song snatches, and saw merry maids run here and there with trifles, that suggested preparations for the outdoor tea, or afternoon picnic, which the Squire of Shumleigh was bound to have at certain times in the year for the benefit of his general acquaintance, and which he privately deemed " an out-and out nuisance."

It was the peculiar pleasure of the tea-drinkers at these outings to invest the business with much fuss and clamour ; and Roxana, who was a solitary soul, had slipped away at first chance from the merrymakers and made her way to the hills, whither her husband, catching the gleam of her white gown through the firs, had followed her. " Poor tykes ! " muttered Squire Kynnesley dole- HERSELF AND HUSBAND 7 fully, for dogs were not admitted to these gatherings, and his canines — pugs, collies, spaniels, and imps of terriers of varying types — -eighteen of them all told — were a part of the man's life. The animals' Provi dence had indeed dowered both himself and his wife with that subtle attracting force that no brute with stands. Such a neighing and barking as occurred when master and mistress went on their daily round together !

Why, even old Molly Bawn, the alder manic donkey, and Don, the prince of peacocks, would join the procession, and hang about the ter race steps, or strut over to the solemn old mulberry tree, in the wake of their benign keepers. The Squire turned a lazy head towards his wife. As she did not notice him, he got up and tucked his arm within hers ; she then glanced over her shoulder and kissed him — a right willing Joan to his Darby ! What a handsome, well-mated pair they looked, to be sure, with their fine clothes and their sleek and prodigal airs ! Their match, the villagers said, was not in the county. And a man's deep notes joined in the girls' chorus below. " That's Ran ! I'm glad he's come," said the Squire with satisfaction, for Ran was his brother and an all-round favourite, besides being the notable young doctor destined to step one day into the place of peaceful old Wontner, who thought the world of his hard-working associate.

The two men lived happily together in their bachelor quarters, situated within a stone's throw of the Hall ; but though Randolph's heart and soul were in his profession, he always found an odd quarter of an hour for the girls, who swarmed about the Squire's brother as flies around the sugar barrel. He was four years younger than Wyon — then thirty-five — and made of sterner stuff, with a huge capacity for work and a vital force that set the drone's teeth on edge. Roxana looked dolefully down the hill. " I ought to go back to them," she murmured. " Mother's there, and she and Daphne can keep things going till tea-time, I'm sure," Kj^nnesley answered. He tapped the bench where he had again stretched himself, invitingly. " Come and sit here, and tell me why you are so thoughtful to-day. More plans, eh?

" This made her smile. Roxana's " plans " were a part of herself, and lavish creations, as might be expected from such a woman. They had included new schools and cottages — built on hygienic prin ciples, too — clubs, flower shows, treats, mothers' meetings, and benefits of every kind, which she organized herself, and over which she watched, at a certain distance, with unceasing care. The Squire, it is true, put down the money, and her sister, the darling of the rustic soul, represented the mistress among the village folk ; but Roxana was the moving spirit in all this good work. Her acquirements were many and thorough ; there wasn't a woman going, old Doctor Wontner and the Rector asserted, who could thresh out an argu- HERSELF Ai\D HUSBAND 9 ment like the Squire's wife ; it was she who played the organ when the organist had his holiday ; at the village concerts she made music on the harp or piano like a professional.

And to hear her sing ! why, the Shumleighites would sit open-mouthed like cradle-folk when the massive sounds came rolling out of her fine white throat. The Squire's wife had high views, and it was by her powerful example that she unconsciously reproached her phlegmatic husband — and so put the one thorn in his bed of roses. " You can't make the cart-horse race," he said to her one day when her inspirational ideas had been too much for him ; " I'm only a log, Rox." " Logs may be lifted," answered she gravely. " But they lie where they fall," he had retorted. " Are you to spend your days holding me in my place, Rox ? " " Until such time when you will stand alone, I certainly shall. At least be willing clay, dearest, in the potter's hand." He flung his great arms about her, and took his fill of kisses.

" Heaven bless the potter ! " he cried ; " if you can make anything of a lump like me, do, and welcome." Such had been the talk between them during the first six months of their married life, and in the course of the four years they had thus spent to gether, the high-minded Roxana, whose influence swept like a broom over obstructions, moral and otherwise, had striven for the better part of that man's soul as the miner strives for the gold that is to make him a millionaire. "Well, what about these plans?" asked the Squire of his wife, who now sat on the bench beside him. " They must be special ones, by the look of you, Rox." " I am not making plans to-day," answered she, with her transient smile. " I was thinking of the consequences that fall upon such of us as have knowledge and do not use it."

Oh, what a long face he pulled then ! " You ought to have been a parson, sweetheart," said he. " But does this sort of thing go along with a picnic tea on the hills, Rox?" At this the wife, whose "word in season," the Shumleighites said, was as good as any parson's, got up and put out her hand to her rueful spouse. " What a martyr it is ! " she cried smilingly. "Come, let us go now. I ought to put in an appearance, at least." Together they made their way down Goliath's steep front, and thence into a path that led directly to the fir wood. Unseen themselves, the husband and wife took note through a chance gap among the trees of the interior, of which rugs and cushions of all the colours of the rainbow, masses of fruit and gleaming china, and the gay raiment of the womenfolk, made an impromptu bower fit for the gods.

A pensive little dame, who was a study in silver grey, and the very image of the burly man watching her, was evidently the president of the party, pointing here and there with domineering little HERSELF AND HUSBAND 11 hands, white as milk, and a peculiar pursing of her pretty mouth. Beside her stood Daphne Oax, the Squire's popular sister-in-law, a winsome bit of mortality, with temper, caprice, and impulse sufficient for a woman of twice her size, who stood only four feet nine, and had but a fairy's proportions. A pale, high-bred face, with flashing little teeth, and dimples, and a frame of faint golden hair that went well with the dove's eyes of blue. Lovers came and went — so did her birthdays. Daphne was now twenty-six, and looked nineteen ; but to the dismay of many a suitable and devout applicant the young lady held fast to her spinster hood, so that her associates began to wonder among themselves whether there might not be some deeper motive for this strange insensibility on the girl's part.

" Oh, there are two cups missing ! " cried Miss Oax suddenly. " Ran, Ran ! Come here, please ! Ran, I say ! " " Ay, ay ! " said a deep, hearty voice, and a slim young man, to whom his well-fitting tweeds, his pointed beard — black as soot, Hke his hair and eye brows — and a glimpse of jewellery, gave a certain distinction, came from behind some bushes. " Two more cups, please, from the hamper," said Daphne. " Right. How long will tea be, mother ? " " Half an hour," answered the dame in grey ; " perhaps more." " Ran, Ran ! Where are you, Ran ? " came from all quarters at once, and a crowd of airy damsels, headed by Rector Luxton's tall daughter, rushed up breathlessly from different places and carried off the straying knight. "Poor old Ran!" chuckled Roxana's husband. " Fancy all this rumpus for a meal that can be served in ten minutes' time with servants to come for the asking."

" But they don't weigh fourteen stone," said his wife with her passing smile ; " and it pleases Daphne ! " " True ; success to the picnic then. Suppose we take ourselves off for a while, eh, Rox? No one has seen us, and they'll let us know when tea is ready." The idea pleased Roxana, and they sauntered back to the foot of the hill, where they struck off to the right and towards a grass-grown hillock, whence they could see the old house, in all the glory of its two hundred years and more. Lazy Wyon slunk off to the nearest bench, but this was the mistress's favoured resort, and she loved to stand on the mossy knoll and take her fill of the noble old house, which was a wide-spreading, sedate, but imposing affair. Why, she could even see the magnolia outside the window of the garden-room that overlooked that part of the grounds known as " Madam's garden," where the mistress worked as for daily wage, and where throve lovely odd flowers of bygone days, old as the hills, but full of virtue ; with mystic nooks that trailed away to the ancient sycamore by the hill gate, and prim walks and alleys set with lilac and other scentful things.

HERSELF AND HUSBAND 13 The dome of the tower, which was the late master's fancy, and fitted with a tuneful bell, to call the stragglers from park and hill top, shone brazen as a pawnbroker's ball ; the terrace stairs had a warmer white in tliis deluge of light and sun. And there, a little lower in the valley, was the village post-office, next door to the Shumleigh Arms, while opposite stood the grand marble foun tain erected by a benevolent Kynnesley for the public good, and the quaint little vestry-hall where her husband ruled as justice of the local peace. How glad she was when she sat afterwards, steeped to the lips in sorrow and shame, that she had so stood there and taken her happy fill of her beautiful home, without a shadow of warning that that very sun flaming away in the panting skies was to go down on all her hopes and blessings.

Sun and stars would work anew in their allotted places, but she could nevermore be the same again. The Squire moved lazily on his bench. " I wonder when Fulke will turn up," he mut tered. " Ah," said his wife, looking round quickly, " I had quite forgotten about him. It is this afternoon he is to call on his way to Fulke Court, isn't it ? " " That's it. He has only just discovered, he tells me in his letter, that we are the Kynnesleys formerly connected with his family, and appears disposed to renew the acquaintance." " You do not seem appreciative," observed Roxana smiling. " Well, we don't really know much of each other," said the Squire, " and the fact is we're not ' birds of a feather,' sweetheart. Fulke's been out of Eng land for some time, I fancy, but he means to settle at the Court now.

Old Matthews, his steward, who is an out-and-out good sort, and a better manager than ever Fulke will be, has asked him to do so. Come and sit here by me," he entreated, pushing his long legs aside to make room for her. As she hesitated, he got a handful of skirt and pulled her down beside him. "Is your friend meaning to stop?" asked she presently. " Oh, no, sweetheart ; he merely makes a friendly call in passing." " Why are you not ' birds of a feather ' ? " pursued she. " Ah, that's a puzzle," he answered. " I know we're not, that's all. I feel it, as Daphne would say, and that," he added with a chuckle, " is always final, of course." " This Fulke " she began thoughtfully, when he stopped her. "This Fulke is very much on my wife's mind," said he, catching her round the waist. " Where fore, my own ?

You won't care for him, let me tell you. He isn't your sort at all. He wasn't always a Fulke, of Fulke Court, you know ; the family name " " Hark ! what's that ? " cried Roxana abruptly, as a certain urgent call came to them on the rushing breeze. The Squire was quickly on his legs. HERSELF AND HUSBAND 15 " That's Ran," said he, making an answering signal ; " I'm wanted." " Oh, what can have happened ! " cried Roxana in distress. "Fulke's there, I expect," said matter-of-fact Wyon. " Will you go with me, Rox or shall I come back and fetch you ? " " Oh, no, dear ; I will follow presently. There's Ran calling again. Make haste, Wyon." She smiled as her portly husband went gingerly down the hill, which, having breath and to spare always on hand, she trod herself like a chamois ; she even made one of her rare but cunning little jokes at his expense, when he stumbled now and again, and clutched at a chance bush with a desperate hand.

Oh, she was good to see as she stood there on the hill-top, with the flashing April lights about her, and the dauntless airs that lifted her above her kind. And yet — so close together are our sorrows and our joys — between her treasure and the cleav ing sword there hung but the momentous hair !

Chapter II

A little world P959HE Squire's wife was not sorry to be alone WBaaj awhile, for among certain difficulties, chiefly rafty, domestic, was one which she discussed with herself only, and which, owing to divers petty annoyances of that morning's occurrence, severely oppressed her at the present moment. Said difficulty was her mother-in-law — -this particular little lady proving too much for even Eoxana's disciplined mind at times. The tempers of the two women — one bordering on Radicalism, the other a thorough-bred Tory — ran like oil and water, far apart ; and Roxana, whom the old lady's limited views really afflicted, began to seriously wonder how this domestic diffi culty could — without damage to the dame's feelings — be solved, and was yet no nearer to a conclusion than she had been on the day — just a month after her marriage — on which she had first submitted it to herself.

Roxana had been prepared to concede a good deal to the mother who stood so high in her boy's regard. The old lady had her own jointure, the house was big enough to hold them, as Wyon said, and all authority was vested in the new mistress : and yet the mother's presence there was a mistake. To begin with, she did not " take to her son's wife ; " she objected to her principles, the colour of her hair, her attitude to the servants, who, she insisted, how ever kindly treated, should always be kept in their place. Then, again, the " Kynnesley ladies " had always had a French attendant, who had the fashions at her fingers' ends, and brought a certain credit to the old Hall. This woman, Selby, was altogether unsatisfactory, with no idea of dressing, and manners that left a great deal to be desired.

" But, then, Mrs. Wyon," — she had never called her son's wife by her Christian name — " was so very irregular in her ideas," she would plaintively assure her hearers. " And whoever heard of such a name as Roxana ! " When the owner had mildly explained that she had been so afflicted in deference to the wishes of a godmother, from whom she formerly had expecta tions, the old lady merely pursed up her button of a mouth, and said she should be obliged to call her by her son's name instead of her own. Roxana sighed as she stood there alone on the hill-top, thinking of it all. She would have liked to be able to " get on " with the dame, who was such a worthy woman in herself, and dealt, as a mother with that dear little sister of hers, but really She began to pace Goliath's stony crown : it was good to be there alone with the dumb and mighty old hills, where the winds and the sun and the gossamer clouds strove in lazy rivalry together. u Goliath, the chief, was so called in contrast to its neighbour, nicknamed David's Hill, this latter being so much the smaller of the twain.

Two others, greatly alike, were christened The Twins, and away to the west, where the clouds rose like luminous mountains when the sun went down, was My Lady's Hill, so called because one of the dead-and-gone Kynnesley ladies used to walk there lamenting a lost lover. It was with an effort that the Squire's wife brought her straying thoughts back to the actual condition of things, and turned reluctantly to the downward path. Suddenly, from a by-way at hand, came Janet, the lean and graceful, with flushed cheeks and gathered-up skirts. " Oh, Mrs. Kynnesley ! " cried the Rector's daughter, running forward, " is that you ? The Squire is gone after you, for Ran said he saw you over there on My Lady's Hill, and I was going to offer to find you out for him, as the hills upset him so. Daphne's all right now, dear child !

The doctor says so." " Daphne ! " cried the Squire's wife with alarm. " Has anything happened, then ? Tell me at once, please, Janet." " Why, she fell down, and she had to be got home. Don't look so frightened, Mrs. Kynnesley. She hurt her ankle and her right arm, but they have fixed her up comfortably at home, and your woman Selby is attending her." "How did it happen? " asked Roxana anxiously. " She was running after Randolph and some of the girls who wouldn't give her the spoons she wanted, and she went clown over the trunk of a felled tree," answered Janet. " I am thankful it is no worse," said the Squire's wife devoutly ; " but what a disappointment for her, poor child ! Is that why my husband was called a while ago ? " " Oh, no," answered Janet, as she turned to go after the Squire ; " Daphne would not let us fetch eitherof you.

Randolph hallooed because the Squire's friend came. The servants sent him on as directed, and he got here soon after Daphne's mishap, and just as Doctor Kynnesley came back from the Hall. Let me see ! what is his name. Baron Fulke, isn't it ? " " Yes. Then he is here now, of course ? " inquired Roxana. " Oh, yes ; he's somewhere about," answered Janet. " And do you know, Mrs. Kynnesley," she added, coming a pace nearer with a mysterious air, " I don't like him a bit ; none of us do." " How is that? " asked Mrs. Kynnesley gently. " Well, we don't know why, but we don't," said Janet. " And Mary Soames says there's something dreadful against him— at least, she isn't sure whether it's this man or his father — but it's in the family." " But what is it ? " asked Roxana with her little smile. "Oh, we don't know what," whispered Janet, " only it's something dreadful, Mrs. Kynnesley.

No ! we don't like the Squire's friend a bit ; he's too knowing for us Shumleighites. Now, please don't go wandering again ; tea is just ready, and we were only waiting for you and the Squire. I'll run and fetch him back," cried Janet, and she went off blithely on her errand. Roxana then walked on to the end of the path that worked towards the wood in which the tea was spread, seeking a certain spot where the trees grew less densely, and afforded an opening into the woody retreat. When she was near the desired place she heard the murmur of talkers, and among these her keen ear instantly detected a strange voice. At the first sound of it Roxana stopped short. She did not know this voice : why did it make her heart beat like a hammer, and drive the blood from her cheeks ! She parted some branches that hid the interior of the wood with a quaking hand.

Still she could not see the talkers, but her mother-in-law was one, she knew, for she heard her plaintive notes ; so was the Rector, whose cackling laugh always be trayed him. Suddenly, in answer to some remark the old lady made, the strange voice spoke again, and Roxana's soul rose in alarm. " Who is this man ? " she cried within herself ; " I must see him." She was deathly pale, and her hand shook so that she could hardly hold it aloft to keep the branches of the fir apart. By turning this way and that, she caught a glimpse of one of the men standing near her hiding-place. It was a slender, well-clad figure, and certainly belonged to the stranger. Then she saw a strong profile, a jet-black pointed beard, and a flashing diamond pin. " Why," said she, with a little laugh at what she deemed her own stupidity, " it is Randolph !

" but the instant after she remembered that her brother in-law wore tweeds, whereas this man's coat was black. At this same moment, while she stood peering through the dark bushes, her husband came puffing up the path with the Rector's daughter. " Oh, there you are ! " he cried gleefully, as he caught sight of her. " Why, sweetheart, how white you are ! What's up ? " " I — I — am never very ruddy," murmured she ; " am I, my dear ? " " No, you are not," answered Janet, to whom Roxana had smilingly appealed ; " but you look frightened out of your life, Mrs. Kynnesley." " You've been upsetting yourself about Daphne, I know," said her husband anxiously. " There's no need for you to do so, sweetheart. Ran assures us that she will be all right in a few days. Come along, Rox — Fulke is waiting to be introduced to you.

Oh, but you must come ! " he cried, for she held back in dismay ; " he's waiting, I tell you." As he spoke he pulled her onward towards the opening which was just ahead of them, and into the interior of the pretty retreat. At their approach the group opened ; the Rector and two other men with him sauntered towards the tea place ; Janet put her arm through the old lady's, awaiting her moving forward, and the Squire went directly to the stranger, who stood somewhat apart now, and made him acquainted with his handsome wife. The two looked at each other with a shocked air ; then they bowed in an odd, silent way, so odd, in deed, that Wyon, obtuse as he was compared with his highly - wrought wife, grew uncomfortable. Never had he seen his Rox — that model hostess — so receive a stranger. Why, she had not even shaken hands with him, much less bidden him welcome !

" Very warm, very warm," he mumbled, mopping his moist brow, " for this time of year. Tea ready, mother ? " The old lady, still standing arm-in-arm with the Rector's daughter, was taking solemn note of her son's wife and the stranger. " Quite ready," said she ; " we were only waiting for Mrs. Wyon." " Off we go, then," cried the Squire blithely, and he took a lady on each arm. " Fulke, kindly bring my wife along, and excuse ceremony." The couple now stood comparatively alone to gether. The tea company was within a stone's throw of them, certainly, but too intent on the business before them to notice the laggards. " It is a little world, after all, Mrs. Kynnesley." observed the stranger mildly. " I did not dream that in the Squire's wife I should meet— you." He stroked his black beard as he spoke.

The man certainly had strong points of resemblance to the Squire's brother ; notably, the compact, sinuous figure, the forcible air, the square wiiite teeth and pointed beard. The stranger looked keenly at his companion, who had neither moved nor spoken since the moment of her entrance into the wood. She was stricken into silence ; was thinking with a pulse Hke lead of how near she had been to hearing the truth, and so having, at least, the mercy of a warning. " He was not always a Fulke," her husband had said; "his family name being " then had occurred the signal that had called him below, and the matter had passed from her mind. A single word, spoken at that moment, might have changed all. " You have made the most of your opportunity," he said, and a smile flashed over the dark and mask like face.

" I must congratulate you. Perhaps you will favour me later on with a few moments' com munion ? " " You have changed your name," said she with an effort. " Pardon me," he answered suavely ; " I have merely added another to the one I had, and I greatl}' regret that this circumstance should have helped to distress you. Otherwise you would, at least, have had warning of my undesired arrival." " Did you come here by chance ? " asked she after a leaden pause. " Quite by chance," he assured her ; " indeed, I almost changed my mind at the last moment. Many things considered," he added, with a touch of com passion for this noble woman whom his presence must so severely afflict, " it would have been better if I had done so. Shall we move on, Mrs. Kynnes ley ? Your friends are looking this way." Roxana vaguely lifted her hand to her forehead as he spoke, and something white drifted like float ing cobwebs to his feet.